Beginners Mindful Meditation seemed like the right place to start. Out on the lawn behind Black Bear Lodge, a brisk breeze helped drown out distraction as we settled into our practice. And for the certified Type A+ personality like me, meditation is definitely going to take practice.

And that’s OK. What I learned is that thoughts will come. Let them go. Sit still, until a sensation becomes an obsession. Then shift. A lesson for well beyond the mat.

Next up, and new to Wanderlust, was a session at “Find Your True Fork” with Chef Kevin Callaghan who showed us “How to Think like a Kitchen Pro.” He invited teams of three to join him in making a tasty tomato sauce, demonstrating the key principle that separates an average cook from a restaurant chef.

The secret? A harmonious blend of salt, sugar, fat and acid. Just like the four legs holding up your dinner table.

Here I was inspired to hit the farmers’ market and make the most of all those fresh ingredients. Appreciating taste and sensation. To find balance. And most importantly, to discover what works for me, because “there is no right wellness.”

Then I went way off the mat with an astrological bead making workshop where we mapped the planets in their journey around the sun at the exact time and place of our birth. With Gemini as both my sun and rising stars, I am textbook . It’s no coincidence that I ended up in communications instead of at medical school; it was in the stars. Now I plan to be mindful of more than the occasional Mercury retrograde.

And that was just the first day!

Had I not challenged myself to explore, I would have missed so much of what Wanderlust has to offer including two highlights from all my seven festivals: Yin Yoga and Yoga of the Voice.

The “Art of Deceleration “opened my eyes. And my hips.

The class description was an invitation to “come claim your piece of Nirvana” by activating the parasympathetic nervous system so often dominated in our day-to-day by the fight or flight sympathetic nervous system. Holding long poses, slowing the heart rate … helps the body recover. And stretch. There was a nary a standing pose, yet I left my first Yin Yoga class completely elevated.

I hit a high note with my last class of Wanderlust 2017. Pun intended.

Bhavana Sound Method is described as a “mindfulness practice increasing your self-awareness and intention through your voice … a sonic pathway to creative inspiration.”

Who knew you could activate your Chakras through “ancient seed syllables?” It may sound complicated, but was, in reality, quite simple. And sweet. The sound not of one hand clapping, but of a hundred souls reverberating. Still.

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Myra Foster

Myra Foster has skied and snowboarded Stratton for more than 30 years, with Snow Bowl trails among her favorite, from a warm-up run down the Meadows to charging through the snow on Drifter, tree-lined turns on classics like Slalom Glade and sweeping arcs across the perfect Liftline fall line.